Most magpie aggression happens during the six weeks they are caring for chicks in the nest. (Source: John Cooper)

Many of us have childhood memories of aggressive magpies, and indeed, a national survey has found that 90 per cent of males and 72 per cent of females have been attacked by a magpie at some time in their life.

Being the target of a magpie's ire is an inevitable part of growing up in Australia. Or is it? Certainly, when magpies pounce, they can do real damage. The Injury Surveillance Information System (ISIS) is a national collection of hospital emergency department attendance records. Their data shows that of 59 magpie attacks, the eye was the birds' most common target.

Magpies seem to get particularly infuriated by bicycles: nearly half of those attacked were riding a bike at the time. But delving further into the ISIS data, we find that almost two thirds of the magpie victims were male, and half of all those attacked were aged between 10-30. Obviously magpies are selective!

The large public problem and potential liability suits precipitated by magpie attacks have prompted avian researchers to take a fresh look at magpies, their behaviour and their social organisation, in the hope of finding clues on how to live more peacefully with these Australian icons.

Watch out posties!

In many areas, aggressive magpies are simply shot. This is still common practice. But Dr Darryl Jones from the Suburban Wildlife Research Group at Griffith University believed there had to be a more humane way to deal with magpies.

He surveyed people who had been attacked, and found to his surprise that despite being the target of magpie wrath, 90 per cent of victims didn't want the magpie to be destroyed.

Dr Jones knew that magpies were highly intelligent, that they only attack for a few weeks out of the year, and that their social behaviour is very complex. He believed that if we had a better understanding of what triggers a magpie attack, it might be possible to develop better management strategies.

Dr Jones' field surveys found that, contrary to popular belief, only about 12 per cent of all male magpies will actually attack people. Of these, about half will attack only pedestrians, 10 per cent go exclusively for postal workers on bikes, eight per cent will attack bicyclists, and the remaining third will attack any of these.

Fact file:

When: Magpies begin breeding in July and this lasts through until the chicks fledge in February. Most attacks occur between August and November when the chicks are in the nest!

Where: NSW, VIC, eastern South Australia, south west WA, coastal ranges of Qld.

Other info: - Magpies are only aggressive for six weeks of the year, around August/September, when they have chicks in the nest.- Most magpies attack the same few individuals again and again, possibly because they remind the bird of someone who once hurt them.- Only the males attack (the females are too busy sitting on the eggs).Magpies are excellent mimics and can even imitate the human voice.

Magpies remember

Interestingly, most magpies which attack pedestrians attack the same few individuals over and over again. If they attack others, it's probably a case of mistaken identity, says Dr Jones. He believes such magpies may have had an early traumatic experience - perhaps someone who looked like these people had harmed the magpies chicks, or even 'rescued' a fledgling, something the parent mistook as predation. Magpies are able to recognise and remember individual human faces, even if the person wears different clothes!

How to avoid being attacked

If you get attacked while riding a bike or horse, get off immediately

If a particular bird is harassing you repeatedly, choose a different route for the next few weeks until the chicks fledge

Wear an icecream container on your head when crossing magpie flightpaths

The attacks specifically on postal workers while on their bikes is particularly intriguing. Dr Jones looked at various factors which could be responsible, such as the colour of the bike, or the speed, but nothing was significant. He suggests it could be something about the continuous movement of the bike, because if the rider dismounts and walks with the bike, the attack instantly stops.

What it does reveal about magpies is that they can literally tell the time and know exactly when the postal bike is due to go past. Postal workers may be better off delivering the mail at more unpredictable hours, in order to fool the magpie's excellent sense of time.

Dealing with aggressive magpies

One way to deal with aggressive magpies has been to trap the male and move it to another area. Although not as drastic as shooting, biologists were concerned that this would also have an adverse impact - male and female magpies take equal responsibility for caring for their young, and researchers were concerned that removing the male would leave the female unable to feed the young adequately. Worse still, the fear was that another male would come along, supplant the first male and kill the chicks in order to start a new family with his own genes.

But to the amazement of Jones and his colleagues, as soon as a male magpie was removed, a new magpie would take his place and immediately begin defending the territory and caring for the young, even though they weren't his.

Magpies are very intelligent, probably at the same level as parrots, and have very complex social systems. Perhaps in order to live more peacefully with magpies, we need to start taking this in to account, and begin managing our own behaviour, as much as that of the magpie.